MUMBAI: The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) gives an opportunity to aspiring filmmakers with the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. MPA APSA Academy Film Funds is a unique initiative which has aided aspiring film makers in a lot of development in new film projects. A panel discussion was hosted at the 13th Pune Internation film festival on January 10th, 2014, to create awarness about the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and MPA APSA Academy Film Funds . The panelelist for the discussion comprised of celebrated actor, Atul Kulkarni & Lohita Sujith, Director, Corporate Communications, Motion Picture Dist. Association (India) Pvt. Ltd. Panelists also discussed how upcoming filmmakers/ professionals can benefit from the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund worth USD 100,000.
MPA APSA Academy Film Fund has been a hugely successful initiative taking the number of successful projects funded to a total of twenty feature films over the last six years. The projects now count amongst them winners of an Academy Award®, APSAs and an International Emmy Award. Grants have been awarded to projects from.
India, Bangaldesh, Republic of Korea,People’s Republic of China, Iraq,Kazakhastan, Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2014, over 100 submissions were received for the film fund. Four grants were awarded to two documentary film projects from Israel and Denmark and twofilm projects from Bangladesh and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Speaking on the occasion, Atul Kulkarni, Actor, says “The MPA APSA Academy Film Fund is a great stepping stone for aspiring filmmakers, enabling them to develop their film projects from script to screen. I encourage aspiring filmmakers from Pune and the rest of India to expand their horizons and opportunities by submitting their projects to the film fund this year.
Adding to this, the panelist also discussed how The MPA APSA Academy Film Fund stimulates collaboration between filmmakers across Asia Pacific. The $100,000 development fund which provides four US$25,000 grants each year is wholly supported by the Motion Picture Association (MPA).The Fund supported the development of Iranian writer/director AsgharFarhadi’s film A SeparationI, which went on to win an Academy Award, and an APSA Best Feature Film Award.
